


all the promises at sundown; i've meant them like the rest

by afterah



Series: i know they said the end is near; but I'm still on my tallest tip-toes [3]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/F, Getting Back Together, Post-Canon, Romantic Fluff, loved ellie!!!!, they're happy here your honor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29863542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterah/pseuds/afterah
Summary: She leans in. Her mouth lies on the corner of the other's mouth, lustfully. She wants her to feel it. She wants toburnit.Dina moves away, both faces are red. She smiles shyly and interlaces her fingers on Ellie's.It feels like a promise.Soon.OR a brief one about forgiveness and love.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Series: i know they said the end is near; but I'm still on my tallest tip-toes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855105
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	all the promises at sundown; i've meant them like the rest

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this piece works alone even if it's the last part of my series [i know they say the end is near, but i'm still on my tallest tiptoes](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855105), but if you enjoy it i would be pretty happy if you read the other two =p
> 
> another quick summary: ellie is happy. and loved.

**AUGUST**

The rain outside is deafening, surpassing the clouds and descending with the thunderous force of a storm. It is necessary to get up from the sofa in a leap, jump over the pile of toys scattered on the floor to be possible to close the rusty window in the room.

The house is small, just a room. The living room is so compact that in three steps from the hall you reach the kitchen; two more the bathroom. That's enough for now; more natural light enters than the one that she lived years ago.

As soon as the window is closed with a scratchy rumble, thunder breaks in the sky. Behind her, a child sobs.

"It's okay." The mother says: using a gentle voice while crouching beside her son. She runs her fingers through the boy's dark hair, who with swollen eyes threatens to burst into tears.

"It's raining." She explains. "Do you want to take a look?"

He looks at her pondering. Curiosity borders on insecurity and with a thumb in his mouth he slowly shakes his head.

Ellie smiles. Accepting his son's outstretched arms, she wraps him in her torso and takes him to the window, but still putting some distance from it.

"See, it's water."

JJ watches with attentive eyes, little hands tightened on the collar of his mother's shirt.

"Comes from the sky?"

"Hmm, yeah. It's like-" She reaches for the right words "-when mommy drinks too much orange juice and needs to go to the bathroom."

He shakes his head in agreement, the comparison being enough.

Right after that, having as a characteristic just to learn about things to stop being afraid of them, JJ turns to his mother and says:

"Can I play more?"

Two hours later, already lying in bed and with the light out, Ellie realizes that it is the second night they sleep together without JJ calling for Dina.

-/-/- 

"Let me clear things up, you told our son that heaven _pees_?"

By the door, Ellie laughs. "Hello to you too."

She waits and closes her eyes when Dina approaches and kisses her on the cheek. It isn't usual for people to greet with this gesture, but there is nothing usual about everything here, is it?

Closing the door, she watches Dina taking off her shoes and walking over to the couch. There is a familiarity in her movement, the way her body knows exactly how many steps are needed so that, without asking, she can open the curtain and window a little bit more. The way she is not surprised when she looks over her shoulder and catches Ellie standing at the doorframe with a smile on the corner of her lip. The way she mirrors the expression.

Everything is familiar. It feels like-

Ellie scratches her throat and that makes Dina giggle.

"Do you want coffee?" She asks, already heading for the kitchen before she even hears the answer.

"Uhum." Dina replies, her voice increases a little in volume to make up for the distance.

This is a routine. _Their_ routine.

And it goes like this: JJ sleeps with Ellie two days a week. On the others, she picks him up from school - since it is almost next to the carpentry shop - and takes him to Dina. Sometimes only the three of them have dinner together, sometimes with other people. Dina still lives with Jesse's parents, so there's a dining room big enough that the house is never empty.

In the first few times, the companies were more of a security guard - the women were not yet comfortable or ready for what a dinner just the three of them would mean. Ellie was still a stranger to JJ, no matter how much it hurt.

Gradually, the silence was no longer embarrassing. Gradually, it was JJ who sought Ellie's hand and not the other way around. One step at a time, until one day, while watching JJ leaving the class, Ellie saw him holding a paper in his hand. Dina was still going along on the picking-ups, so it was a surprise that the boy had gone straight to Ellie.

Ellie had crouched down to match his height.

_'Hey buddy, what do you have in there?'_

_'Look!'_ He exclaimed, pointing to the paper.

There were tree straw dolls holding hands.

Mama Di. JJ.

Mommy Ell.

She lost her breath. Looking up she found Dina gazing at her back, her eyes shining with happiness. Ellie looked back at JJ, who without knowing that had just put such a soaring emotion in Ellie, begun to tell her how his day had been.

Later, after JJ went to bed, Ellie was almost leaving the house when she turned and asked:

_'You call me Mommy Ell with him?'_

Dina softly answered. _'It_ is _you, isn't it?'_

And if asked, Ellie would admit that she cried all night.

So, it goes like this: they are a family. She, Dina and JJ. A family which happens to live in two different houses; even if sometimes they also happen to forget about it. They've been a family for some months now, and to hear _our son'_ leaving Dina's mouth makes it feel real. It makes them feel whole.

And see, they _are_.

But Dina and her? They just are - not _together_.

Yet, Dina shouts from the couch: "Don't put too much sugar!"

"I'll not."

"Don't believe you." Dina says-sings. "I swear to God your blood levels are pure candy."

Ellie does not miss a bit. "Oh, you telling me I'm sweet?"

She can't see Dina's face, but the way the woman answers "Maybe." makes it possible to know that she's smiling.

They are not together. _Yet_ , Dina sometimes picks her from work and her face lights up when Ellie does the same. Yet, they have a walk together every other day, and when there is a big party or celebration Dina always invites her as an escort. Yet, they mock each other and sometimes in a flirtation kinda way. Yet, Ellie often stays a little bit longer after dinner, the conversation lingering to the point where it is simply easier to sleep there than to walk to her own house.

Yet, they do it - have coffee, before the day really begins, if it's raining or shining; if there are words or there is silence.

Yet, it feels like-

"What did he said?" Ellie asks, reclaiming the first topic.

"He came in last night so excited 'cause ' _Mommy said that the sky pees!'_ " Dina tells. Then, in a playful tone on the back of her throat, she says: "If JJ fails in Science, it's going to be your fault."

"He's only _four_."

"Yes, and he's already following your steps."

"Which one? Incredibly smart or coffee-maker expertise?"

"Honestly?" Dina answers, letting out an exaggerated sigh that makes Ellie smile before the sentence is even complete. "I'm scared he's going to be a science geek like you. There's been too much influence from your side."

Ellie goes over the doorframe so that Dina can see her false expression of offense. "Ouch. I'm no geek."

"Yeah, you are." Dina answers affectionately.

Ellie giggles and shrugs nonchalantly.

The house falls into a comfortable silence. The single clock in the house emits an almost invisible noise, drowned out by the sound of the water heating up because of the rain, now thin, outside.

At times like this, Ellie allows herself to daydream. Imagining that just after she brings the cup of coffee she's going to receive a peek the way she used to some years ago, when the walls were cleaner and the weather was warmer, however, herself was darker and colder.

"Thanks." Dina says with a smile on her mouth when she finally holds the cup, blows, and takes a sip. "You're getting good for someone who doesn't really enjoy coffee."

"I am, ain't I?" Ellie snorts. "I'm actually the one who does it at work. Lucas once almost cut my hand off, they banned me from putting my hands in any cutting machine for a while. So I observed a lot and made coffee."

"Oh, how did it feel to be a maid?"

"Fuck off."

Dina cracks a laugh, putting her legs on top of Ellie's when the woman sits on the other side of the sofa. Dina's eyes stroll the other woman's face, intensely.

"What?" Ellie asks, her voice unsteady for a moment.

Dina seems to notice, then she gently says:

"It's nothing."

Ellie responds in the same tone. "Tell me."

Swaying the cup for a few seconds, eyes fixed on the dark drink, Dina seems to think about how to say it. There is uncertainty in her eyes, but not in the words; it's more whether to say it or not.

"It's okay." Ellie promises.

Having heard that, Dina takes a breath in.

"It's reassuring when you do stuff like that, even if it is... ordinary."

She looks out of the window. "Years ago you would jump into action even if you weren't ready or if you were hurt. Now you stop, think, learn. You listen." Dina explains in a small voice, almost like she's shy to have acknowledged it.

Ellie doesn't know how to react. She just takes it in.

Then, Dina continuous, laughing to distract. "I don't know, I guess it's dangerous too. For me."

"Why?"

Locking their eyes, she answers with the same gravity as two worlds crashing. "It makes me hope."

They stop;

_'When?'_

They stare;

_'I don't know.'_

Their hearts expand;

_'When it is.'_

"Need to go." Dina sighs. "I can already hear the buds calling me."

Ellie lets out all the air she held in the laughter that comes out of her throat.

Dina takes a little while to get up. Ellie can see in her eyes that there is something to be said; she can see the faint glow, the mouth that sneaks open, the way her fingers grip the cup, like someone preventing a handrail from falling.

However, Dina gets up and leaves the cup in the sink. Then, stops in front of now a standing Ellie by the corridor.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Ellie answers.

Leaving the house with a smile and an unsaid promise, Dina goes to work.

And Ellie?

Well, she does too.

( _Hopes._ )

-/-/-

When they kissed for the first time, Ellie forgot that the world surrounded her.

When they kissed for the first time, Ellie herself lengthened.

-/-/-

**OCTOBER**

They are at the park. JJ is playing with some kids, Dina's and Ellie's friends are gathering on a picnic, both groups now intimate enough to engage in conversation easily. It's their new normal.

Ellie is drawing. Sometimes she likes to enjoy these moments in silence. There is beauty in the simplicity of observation. The way JJ stretches out his little hands to touch the sand. The affection in which Camila, Dina's friend, holds her newborn in her lap. Lucas and James heartily debating over superheroes.

Dina's serene expression laying right by Ellie's side. They're close enough for their bodies to touch, Dina's back against Ellie's right side, using the taller woman's leg as a headrest.

Ellie ignores her other friend's curious gaze. Ignores the way Lucas keeps glancing with a smirk in his eyes; ignores the way Camila does the same with Dina; ignores the way all of them _know_. 

They are not _together_. Yet-

"Ellie?" Dina calls, but she's too concentrated on getting the shape of JJ's ear right that just responds with a murmur.

"Gimme _attentionnn_ " The woman continuous, dramatically pronouncing the word.

Ellie chuckles. "Okay, just a second."

"What are you drawing?"

"Just you guys."

Dina sits up and leans on the woman's lap. She smells like lilies.

She groans. "Why do you need to draw my nose like that?"

"Like what?"

"You know." Dina gestures a gap between her hands.

Ellie rolls her eyes and truthfully says. "I draw as it is."

"Huge?"

"Beautiful."

Dina trembles. At some period of these couple of seconds, she has leaned in; now those gentle freckles are close constellations. Her mouth is open, breathing audible erratic.

Ellie sighs through it. She uses fire as an ignition for courage.

"And it's the way I see you."

Dina looks down, then up. She's troubled.

Is not the first time after coming back that Ellie feels it; if they were alone, they would've kissed. In fact, these moments are getting more and more recurrent.

But it's the first time that Dina _acknowledges_ it.

She leans in. Her mouth lies on the corner of the other's mouth, lustfully. She wants her to feel it. She wants to _burn_ it.

Dina moves away, both faces are red. She smiles shyly and interlaces her fingers on Ellie's.

It feels like a promise.

_Soon._

-/-/-

Life goes on. Ellie tells stories to JJ before he sleeps, and takes him to school. She works. She eats. She laughs and sometimes cries. She almost never leaves Jackson's gate, but when she does it's rare that it makes her lose her sleep.

Ellie dreams of Jesse. He's on a huge field, JJ on his back. Dina tells that he's always on her mind too.

Ellie dreams of Joel. Every time, he smiles at her. 

-/-/-

**DECEMBER**

She doesn't know what to say.

What she does know is: they are alone because JJ has asked to sleep in a friend's house. He's young, barely five, but that does not stop him from facing his fears.

Dina tends to say it's Ellie's influence. They go on adventures inside Jackson, pretend that the playground is a pirate ship; the lake is made from lava; that JJ's backyard is full of dinosaurs. JJ jumps, and roars, and laughs, and seeks thrilling moments. He's never afraid. He's curious.

Ellie, with tears in her eyes as a little bit shaken by her son's request, retorts saying that being a mother has made her scared. 

"I have lost time." She says. "He's getting older, I've lost time."

Dina's hands reach her face and hold it with assurance. 

There's tenderness in her touch. "Ellie."

There's love in her eyes. "You're here now."

Ellie wants to ask: _'Have I proven myself? To him? To you?'_

But Dina's expression shouts that she's not going to answer with words. 

She kisses her.

Dina kisses Ellie and it feels like coming down from the sky. Dina kisses like flames. Their breathing is quickly lost, their bodies move and mold themselves in relived memory.

This night, they are alone and Dina marks Ellie's body with her soul. 

"I cannot hold myself anymore" Dina blurts. "I cannot-"

"It's okay." Ellie answers, her mouth on the woman's neck. She feels like she's about to cry. She feels like she's crying already. Clothes are lost in between kisses, pleads, words, feelings.

"I've missed you." Dina says. Her fingers go over Ellie's shoulders, up to her jaw - her eyes lock there, steady, intense. There's an endless hunger among them, a desire that makes their stomachs bubble in salutation; in devotion.

"You are _here_ and I cannot hold myself anymore." She confesses, holding Ellie's gaze and heart in the palm of her hand. "I've missed the way your body shakes when I kiss you. I've missed your mouth on mine. Your mouth on _me_."

Ellie closes her eyes, her body drawing closer. When she looks back at her, her pupils are dilated, her eyes wet with intensity.

She's a waterfall. She craves Dina to dive in.

"I want you to touch me the way you used to."

Ellie exhales, her hand travels through Dina's body. There's a certain tenderness to her gesture; the longing for this particular warmth, to feel _Dina_ 's warmth against her skin, the person she's loved since her youth.

She kisses her mouth. 

She kisses her neck. 

She looks at her eyes.

"I want you." _I love you._

"When?" _Soon?_

"Now." 

They recall that conversation and Ellie loses the breath. Her body trembles, an electric impulse running through her body.

Ellie gasps. "I've _missed_ you."

"I've missed you." Dina says, sitting on top of Ellie. The buttons on her bra open, her eyes darken, the deepness of the moment weighs even more. Her fingers go through the muscles, stop at the collar of the other's shirt.

"Ellie, look at me."

Ellie does. Dina's crying too.

"I've missed you." She repeats, but it feels like more.

It's not a confession. It's not a promise, it's not hope.

That's _love_.

Perennial.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think! :)


End file.
